The Art of Popping the Question
by ProcrastinatingPalindrome
Summary: Korra is tired of waiting for Bolin to ask her to marry him, and takes matters into her own hands.


Korra knew she wasn't the most patient person, but all things considered she had done pretty well lately. It had been four years since she and Bolin had started dating, eighteen months since they moved in together and five long, long months since Bolin had started dropping very big hints about wanting to get married.

It didn't seem so out of place at first, when he squeezed her hand so tightly during Asami and General Iroh's wedding, when he badgered her into trying to catch the bouquet and seemed unusually happy when she succeeded. "That means you're getting married next," he teased, poking her in the ribs. "Got anyone special in mind?"

All that might have just been a passing fancy, just a joke, but it didn't stop there. He would sigh wistfully when they passed by a wedding in progress or a newly married couple. He would ask out of the blue what she thought about marriage in general, or how she'd want her hypothetical wedding to go. He decided to tell her one day, for no apparent reason, about the ancient earthbender tradition of forging an engagement ring yourself for your partner by bending precious stones, and she told him about the Water Tribe custom of carving betrothal necklaces. He seemed to be gearing up to finally pop the question, and Korra had been expecting him to get down on one knee for months…but he never did. What exactly was he waiting for? He had made it pretty damn clear that he had marriage on the brain, so what was the hold up? It was downright maddening, and Korra was fed up.

Well, like she always said, if you wanted a job done, you just had to do it yourself!

Hasty was practically her middle name, but for this she forced herself to slow down and plan. After discussing it with Naga ("Bark once for no and twice for yes!"), she decided on making a ring over a necklace. She had never heard of a man receiving the betrothal necklace, and while she was sure he'd happily wear anything she gave him, the usual style of those necklaces didn't really suit him. A ring it was. According to what Bolin had told her, tradition stated that you chose a lump of raw stone and did all the work of turning it into something hopefully ring-shaped on your own. Finding a small piece of bright jade was the easy part, as it turned out. Korra could handle bending boulders, but manipulating such a tiny stone was surprisingly difficult. She measured his fingers while he was asleep to make sure she got the size right, and after a solid week of effort she had finally managed to produce an only slightly lumpy ring that hopefully wouldn't cut off the circulation to Bolin's finger.

Now she just had to pick her moment. Easier said than done. Picking the time and place wasn't so hard (sunset on Air Temple Island,) but getting up the nerve was no small task. The whole process had seemed simple enough at the start, but whenever she tried to pick the actual day to put her plan into action…it wasn't like her to get cold feet, but she couldn't help feeling antsy. What if she was wrong? What if all the marriage talk was just talk? What if he turned her down? On the other hand, she'd never know for sure until she tried, and at last she mustered up the courage to call Pema and ask her to keep the kids scarce the next day.

For all her planning and hard work, Bolin was almost infuriating oblivious when he showed up for their 'date.' He came to the island straight from work, still wearing his uniform, and didn't seem the least be apprehensive about what the evening held.

"Hello there, beautiful!" Bolin called cheerfully as he hopped off the ferry and hurried over to where she was waiting, pulling her into a hug that nearly lifted her off her feet.

"Nice to see you too, gorgeous," Korra chuckled at he set her back down, feeling a little of the worry melting away already.

"Not too gorgeous right now! I've got major five o'clock shadow going on."

"Psh, a little stubble is a good look for a cop."

"You think so? It's not too prickly for kissing?"

"Of course not," she grinned, rising up on her toes to prove it to him.

Bolin was positively beaming by the time she broke off the kiss, cheeks faintly pink. "If a little stubble gets me kisses like that, I should grow a full beard!"

"I wouldn't mind a little facial hair, actually. It would hide your baby face, make you look older."

"Hey, hey! I do _not_ have a baby face!"

Korra was just about to continue the teasing when a flash of movement caught her eye off to the side. Five year old Rohan rushed past, soaking wet and naked, with Pema hot on his heels.

"Sorry, sorry!" she panted as she scooped the boy up into her arms. "He escaped from his bath. Hope we didn't interrupt anything."

"Nope, nothing at all!" Bolin said easily, waving her worry off. "We're just chatting."

Pema gave Korra a knowing look over her squirming five year old. "Well," she drawled, "I suppose I'll just leave you two to…whatever it is you're doing."

"Right, yeah, okay," Korra mumbled. The sudden interruption had brought back all her nerves, and even the quick thumbs up Pema flashed her did nothing to settle her racing heart.

"That'd be kind of nice one day," Bolin said softly as they watched Pema walk away. "You know, having kids and a family and all that."

"Y-you think so?"

"Oh sure! Doesn't almost everybody have that fantasy? Meet a nice person, get married, have a family, grow old together…"

Korra swallowed hard. This seemed to be her cue, and yet… "How about we…go for a walk? The island's got a great view this time of day…"

Bolin still seemed to have no idea that anything was up, and Korra couldn't decide if that made things better or worse. He was still happily in the dark as she strolled along, hand in hand as the sun dipped lower behind the horizon.

She had to make her move soon. She couldn't just drag her feet until dark.

"Did…did you mean what you said earlier?"

Bolin stopped suddenly in the path, turning to her with a curious frown. "About what?"

"About…a-about…" Two deep breaths, to brace herself, and then, "About wanting to…get married and have a family?"

Bolin's eyes widened just a fraction. She could almost hear the gears in his head turning as he began to put the pieces together.

She had to do it now. This was the moment, and if she waited another moment she risked losing her nerve all over again. She reached into her pocket, closed her hand around the ring, and dropped down onto one knee.

"Bolin…" she began, opening her hand and staring down at the ring. It looked so awkward and ugly now, but there was no going back. "Will…will you be my husband?"

Bolin's jaw dropped. His eyes bugged. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, as though trying to speak, but all that came out of his mouth was some incoherent garbled sound.

Korra bit down hard on her lip. Was this a bad sign? "Bo?" she tried again, awkwardly climbing back to her feet. "I, um, I'm asking you to marry me."

"Asdfghjkl," said Bolin faintly.

"_Bolin_." The fear was back with a vengeance, tightening in her stomach. "D-do you want to be my husband or not? Yes or no!"

Her words finally seemed to break through the shocked confusion in his head. He froze, terribly still for a long moment…and then fat tears began to well up in his eyes.

Korra's heart didn't sink so much as plummet. He was going to say no. He was going to turn her down, and he was so sorry, but he-

He nearly knocked her right over when he lunged forward, throwing his arms around and squeezing almost too tight for her to breathe.

"B-Bo?" she gasped faintly, clenching the ring tightly in her fist. "Is it…are you…you haven't answered me yet! Yes or no?"

Bolin sucked in a great shuddering breath, choked on something between a sob and a laugh. "Uh hu-u-uh!"

All the weight on Korra's chest and shoulder's lifted in an instance. All at once she was laughing, laughing so hard her eyes started to water. "He said YES!" she cried out to no one and everyone. "What are you crying about, stupid? We're getting married!"

Bolin sniffed hard and pulled back, rubbing his eyes on his wrist even as he shook with hiccups and nearly hysterical giggles. "I'm-I'm-I'm so happy!"

"Alright, alright," she laughed, dragging him back into a hug. "Get it out of your system. You don't want to get all weepy at our wedding. Your crying face is pretty ridiculous."

Bolin seemed to melt into her, all warm and heavy and close. "A-and you're gonna marry me. Ugly crying face and all." There was a note of awe in his voice. "I didn't think…I wanted to ask you…" He sniffed again, clutched her a little tighter. "But I was just…scared. That you might say no."

"Me too," she whispered, letting her head drop against his shoulder, suddenly tired from all the tension and laughter. "That was one of the scariest things I've ever done."

"My fiancée is the bravest girl in the world," he chuckled, pulled back to look at her fondly through watery eyes.

"And my fiancé is a big soft crybaby," she said with a grin, seizing his hand and finally easing the ring into place on his finger, "and I wouldn't have it any other way."


End file.
